Strapless Saturday

The wind was forecast at 10 knots from 12-2pm so I got to the launch pad and finished repairing the walkway which was on my pre-closing todo list.

It was 9-10 knots with gusts up to 13 and I debated rigging the 9.0 to have a better session than the last few days of exhausting pumping to get planing.

I decided to try the 6.5 again with the 99cm wing. As I started tacking upwind I could already sense it was going to be good.

The wind was filling in a bit and I‘d watched a few videos (like this one) where it was evident that keeping the front leg straight when pumping was key. I quickly got on the foil and had much longer runs than the last 3 days.

I fell in on several jibes but the 5/4 suit and booties kept most of the 7c water out. I even waterstarted once. Not having any footstraps is pretty easy to get used to. My feet definitely find their way to stand right on the inboard strap positions. My back foot seems to like being inboard even more - sometimes even on the Tuttle box fin/mast screws. In any case it seems to be good practice to make lots of small foot movements to figure out how the foil board reacts to those smaller changes than a big step into a strap then being stabilized by the foot in the strap.

I worked my way upwind and found bigger swells than I expected for such light winds. I had an absolute blast riding the waves west of Wedge Island. It is such a cool feeling to be propelled down the swells, holding the sail more for balance than for power. Then sheeting the sail back in to get a bit more speed and to steer to the next wave. And without footstraps, it feels surfy and more pure. Simply incredible to have that new experience right in my own backyard.

Smiling after my session

A whopping 11c and SW 9 knots gusting to 13

So much fun surfing the waves Northwest of Wedge Island
And there are around 3 tail assisted jibes and a lot of fall in jibes

On the foil for most of the 75 minute session!

1994 old school sail meets new school board and foil.

There had actually been some gusts to 16 knots during my session

We had a wonderful sunset Hot Dog and marshmallow roast at the point and then put away the chairs for the winter.

The sun is setting on 2020

When I got home I saw my buddy Rob had live streamed a bit of my session on facebook so I took a screen grab so I have a photo of the session after all!

Thanks Rob P for the FB video!